Crackdown on domestic violence builds

The number of South Koreans booked on charges of domestic violence soared dramatically on-year, due in part to the creation of special police teams investigating cases involving women and juveniles, police said Monday. 

According to the National Police Agency, the number of domestic violence cases caught by police nationwide stood at 40,022 in 2015, a 132 percent increase from 17,258 in 2014.

By region, South Gyeongsang Province saw the biggest rise in the number of domestic violence cases, surging 267.5 percent from 545 in 2014 to 2,003 in 2015. In Seoul, 6,925 domestic abuses cases were reported, a 52.4 percent rise from a year prior. 

As of May, police have been monitoring 12,000 families with previous reports of domestic violence. During the first five months of this year, police cracked down on 18,585 cases.

The police said the surge in the number of domestic violence cases is a result of the creation of teams of investigators specializing in crimes against women and children. The teams were created last February in light of a series of brutal child abuse cases that led to the deaths of children in the hands of their abusive parents.

According to a 2014 survey by the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations on 93 domestic abusers, 82.4 percent of the offenders were men, while 17.2 percent were women. Most of the cases were violence between couples, with 69.9 percent of the physical abuse having been committed by men against women. Nearly 35 percent of the crimes occurred due to differences in their personalities, followed by intake of alcohol at 19.2 percent and mistrust between couples at 18 percent.

A survey by the Gender Ministry has shown that the majority of domestic violence cases still tend to remain unreported. According to the poll on domestic violence conducted every three years, only 1.8 percent of abuse cases were reported to police in 2013. 

Police currently monitor families in danger of being exposed to domestic violence by dividing them into two groups.

Group A are households in which the family member experienced at least two occasions of domestic violence within the past three years, or at least three reports to the police within the past year. They also include those that have been slapped with an injunction. Police have been paying such families a visit or calling them once a month.

Group B are those who have suffered from domestic violence at least once within the past three years with at least two occasions of a family member reporting to police within the past year. The monitoring for Group B families is conducted once every two months.

As of May, 4,294 Korean families (excluding those on Jejudo Island) belong to Group A, and 7,940 families to Group B.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)